Fluid-brake.



No. 795,085. PATENTED JULY 18, 1905. R. n. WHITING.

FLUID BRAKE.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 5. 1904.

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PATENT OFFICE.

FLUID-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 795,085, dated July 18, 1905.

Application filed November 5,1904. Serial No. 281,574.

To all when t it may concern.-

Be it known that l, RICHARD DULANY VVHIT- ING, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fluid-Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention particularly relates to an improvement in air-brakes, and it is to the regulation of the air-pressures in such a system that my present invention is more particularly addressed, although with pro per modifications it may be employed in connection with other fluids, such as steam, electricity, 850.

One of the greatest drawbacks now existent in the employment of automatic or air brakes is the fiatting of car-wheels, and this is caused by the excessive pressure of the brakeshoe upon the wheel that is to say, the pressure of the shoe upon the wheel is so great that it holds the wheel and prevents its rotary movement over the rail and causes it instead of turning on the rail to slide upon it. This is what is known as skidding, and the result is that a fiat place is worn upon the periphery of the wheel, and this is called flatting of the wheel. A Wheel thus mutilated causes a constant jarring sensation highly detrimental to the car, the road-bed, and in the case of passenger-cars a great annoyance to passengers. The difficulty in obviating this drawback has resided in the lack of apparent means of determining and fixing the dangerpoint of air-pressures and guarding the brake system against that excess of pressure which looks the shoe to the wheel-surface, as aforesaid, and prevents its rotation, and yet, on the other hand, provides sufficient pressure to cause the desired quick stoppages in ordinary railway service. My invention is specifically directed to a solution of this problem, and I have provided means and mechanism for permitting, on the one hand, a constant use of airpressures up to a certain limit and an intermittent use of excessive pressure, or pressures which would if permitted to endure as continuous pressures cause the stoppage of the rotation of the wheel and the skidding and fiatting aforesaid. In other words, my invention does not interfere in any way with all of the ordinary service applications of air-brake pressures; but at those times and in those cases where excessive pressures are employed-that is to say, pressures which if applied would cause the stoppage of the Wheel-my invention is arranged to interfere and come into positive action and to automatically apply and relieve the excessive pressures with great rapidity, while at the same time maintaining the ordinary pressures, thus deriving the benefit of the braking action of the excessive pressures without permitting the skidding and flatting aforesaid.

To these ends my invention consists of providing, in connection with the ordinary triple valve of an air-brake system, a supplementary valve which is adapted to respond to an excess of pressure, such as above indicated, and to open up a counter prevailing pressure whereby through its intermittent action the counter-pressure can be applied and relieved and, then quickly applied again, so that at times the excessive pressure is operating upon the brake-shoe and at other times the brakeshoe is relieved from this excessive pressure. By continuing this action, which I will term herein an intermittent action, with great rapidity the utility of my invention is brought into play, and I produce the results hereinbefore rehearsed.

I will here say that broadly speaking my invention may be embodied in various forms and in various ways; butI will illustrate it in a single form for the present, it being understood that various other means may be devised for carrying my invention into effect, which, as above indicated, is the introduction of a means for intermittently applying and relieving the excessive pressures on the brakeshoe of fluid-brake apparatus whereby the skidding of the wheel is prevented and the consequent fiatting of same eliminated.

I will now proceed to describe my invention in connection with the accompanying drawing's, which form a part of this specification.

1n the drawings, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of the brake-cylinder of an ordinary air-brake apparatus, showing also my invention applied thereto. Figs. 2 and 3 are detail sectional views. Fig. 4 is a sectional view, to a larger scale, of my invention, showmg the parts in a different position.

In the drawings, 1 represents the brakecylinder of an ordinary air-brake apparatus, and 2 represents the triple-valve mechanism employed in connection therewith, and 3 represents the passage from the triple-valve mechanism to the brake-cylinder. It is not the intention of my invention to modify these parts of the air-brake apparatus, and I apply my invention thereto as an attachment.

Leading from the passage 3 I provide a pipe 4, which enters a chamber 5. Within this chamber is a hollow plunger 6, open at the end which presents itself to the entrance of the pipe 4 and closed at its opposite end. Itis, however, provided with openings 7, which register with an annular channel 8 of the chamber 5 when the plunger 6 is in its extreme outer position, as shown in Fig. 4. Its other and inoperative position is shown in Fig. 1. Here the openings 7 do not register with the annular passage 8, and therefore anyair-pressure or column of air which may exist in the pipes 4 and hollow plunger 6 willbe locked asin a pocket when the parts areas shown in Fig. 1. At other times and when there is a certain in: crement of pressure, as will hereinafter be described, in the pipes 4 and hollow plunger 6 the said plunger will travel outwardly against the pressure of the spring 9 and will cause the openings 7 to register with the annular passage 8 and permit the flow of the air through the pipes 4 4, the hollow plunger 6, and the openings 7 into the said annular passage 8. This only occurs when the pressure moving through the triple valve 2 into the passage 3 and from thence to and against the piston or diaphragm 10 of the brake-cylinder exceeds the ordinary or safety pressure, which for the purposes of illustration herein I will place at ninety poundsthat is to say, it is to be understood that in the descriptionof my invention and for the purposes of. illustration ninety pounds pressure upon the piston or diaphragm 10 of the brake-cylinder 1 will be an excess of pressure and will be strong enough to cause the piston-rod 11 of the said cylinder to apply the brake-shoes against the wheels with suflicient force as to cause the shoe to lock the wheel and prevent its rotation on the brake, and consequently cause the skidding of said wheel and the undesirable flatting aforesaid. As a matter of fact and in practice of course this danger-point may be reached before the pressure of ninety pounds is attained, or it may be also, as a matter of fact, not reached until a considerable time after such pressure; but, as above stated, 1 use this figure simply as illustrative of my design and idea. I do, however, provide means for adjusting this automatic relief, and I provide anut 12 upon theouter end of the chamber 5, which nut bears upon the outer end of the spring 9. By screwing this nut in, and I make iteasily available from the exterior, I increase the limit of the excess of pressure, as I by this means compress the spring 9 and cause the plunger 6 to be held more rigidly or with greater resisting power in the chamber 5, and by the same means and instrumentalities by partially withdrawing the nut 12 I lengthen and relieve the spring 9 and diminish the resistance of the plunger 6 to the pressure and movement of the contained air, and so cut down the point where the excess of pressure will operate my automatic intermittent relieving device.

I will now proceed to describe the second phase of my device, which I will terma reducing-valve, the casing of which is shown at 13. This casing has a chamber 14, which connects with the annular passage 8 by means of a way 15, the valve 17 being introduced to open and close the communication between the way 15 and the chamber 14. The valve 17 seats upon the valve-seat 18; but I will refer to the structure in the specification simply as the valve 17. The valve 17 is provided with a valve-stem 19, and upon the.

other end of the stem I place a valve 20 of larger area, as will be explained, so that when the pressure of air upon the valve 20 reaches a certain point say thirty poundsit will be sufficient to overcome the counteracting pressure of, say, ninety pounds upon the valve 17 and will operate thereupon to close the valve 17 down on its seat 18. When, however, the pressure upon the valve 17 exceeds the proportion of three to one that is to say, when the pressure upon thevalve 17 is ninety pounds or over and the pressure upon the valve 20 is under thirty poundsthen the valve 17 will be held open and the air will enter the chamber 14, and it is by this means and through these instrumentalities that-I cause and permit the flow of relieving or counterprevailing air pressure into the brake-cylinder, andthe intermittent action of said excess pressures are brought about by the mechanism which I shall now proceed to describe and which I shall refer to herein as the oscillator. ed and is adapted to operate as follows: I provide a casing 21, having a longitudinal chamber 22. These parts are constructed after the manner of a cylinder, and in this cham ber 22 I place the plunger 23 and the slide 24. The way 15 opens into the chamber 22 by means of the entrance 25.

I will proceed to more particularly describe the details of the oscillator and in describing its structure willat the same time take up its method of operation, as this will facilitate the understanding of it. The air coming into the way 15 and flowing through the same will enter the passage 25 and, as shown in the position in Fig. 1 of the drawings, will flow therefrom into the exterior annular chamber 26 of the slide 24. From this chamber the This oscillator is constructair will flow into the channel 27 of the'easing 21 and from thence into the chamber 28. This action will cause the slide 24 to move upward and assume the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. When the parts have reached this position, the air will flow into the passage 29 and proceed to the chamber 30, which forms the lower part or end of the larger chamber 22. This action will force the main plunger 23 upwardly, and the parts will assume the position shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. When the parts have reached this position, the air flowing through the passage 25 into the chamber 26 will now enter the passage 31 and flow from thence'into the space or chamber 32, and this action will impel the slide 24 to move downwardly, and the parts will then assume the position shown in Fig. 4. When the parts have reached the position shown in Fig. 4, the air will proceed from the space or chamber 32 and passing through the channel 33 will enter the chamber 34, which forms the upper end of the larger chamber 22. This action of the air will cause the downward movement of the plunger 23, and the parts will then assume the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. This describes the four positions of the oscillator. Suitableexhausts are provided in the oscillator-that is to say, when the parts are moving from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2 the air in the space or chamber 32 exhausts through the port 35. When the parts are moving from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the air exhausts through the passage 33, the channel 38, and the port 35. When the parts are moving from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4, the air will exhaust through the port 36, and when the parts are moving from the position shown in Fig. 4 to the position shown in Fig. 1 the air in chamber 30 will exhaust through the passages 29, the channel 39, and the port 36.

Connected to the upper end of the plunger 23 is a stem 40, having two heads 41 and 42 and an intervening space 43. This structure operates as a valve and controls the direction and movement 6f the air-relieving pressures, as will be explained.

When the valve 17 is open andair-pressures are flowing therethrough, such pressures after leaving the chamber 14 proceed into the passage 44, and when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4 such air-pressures .will flow from the passage 44 into the passage 45 and from thence into the brake-cylinder 1. Such action produces the counter-prevailing pressure upon the rear end of the piston-head or diaphragm 10 of the brake-cylinder.

When the plunger 23 assumes the position shown in Fig. 1, the relieving-pressures in the brakecylinder 1 will flow outwardly through-the passage 45 into the space 43 and from thence exhaust through the port 46.

I have now described in detail all the parts which go to make up my invention as 1 have reduced it to practice in the present form. Various other means and structures could and can be employed to carry my invention,

broadly speaking, into effect; but I have here adduced a satisfactory working structure, which is adapted to automatically perform the services required in my statement of invention and which 1 shall duly set forth in the claims.

It will be seen that when the air-pressures enter from the triple valve 2 into the passage 3 and from thence into the forward end of and meaning of the claims herein I will refer to such ordinary service applications as normal brake-shoe pressures, and 1 set my automatic relieving apparatus or valve at a point which will mark the limit of such normal pressuresthat is to say, the plunger 6 is set, by means of the nut 12, at such a point as that when the pressures in the front part or end of the brake-cylinder 1 have exceeded such said normal pressures and have reached a point where if continued such pressures would be in excess of said normal pressures, and consequently be of such a nature as to cause the brake-shoe to press against the wheels with sufficient force to clamp the brake-shoe to the wheel and prevent its revolution, then in such case the plunger 6 will compress the spring 9 and bring the opening 7 to register with the annular passage 8 and permit the flow of compressed air into the way 15 and by lifting the valve 17 proceed through the passages 44 43 45 into the rear end of the brake-shoe cylinder and by hearing against the rear face of the piston-head or diaphragm take off and remove this pressure in excess of the normal pressure and reduce for the moment the pressure to the normal; but this relief is only momentarily, for the same pressures which enter through the valve 17 also serve to operate the oscillating device in the manner hereinbefore described and causes the parts to assume the position shown in Fig. 1. When the parts are in this position, the relieving pressure of air upon the rear of the piston head or diaphragm of the brake cylinder escapes through the passages 45 43 and the port 46.

It will be seen that my relieving apparatus or valve is adjustable and can be set at any predetermined place, so as .to regulate the point of entrance of the relieving air-pressures. It will be seen also that this relieving action througlrthe said relief-valve, the

reduction-valve, the oscillator, and the valve 41 42 is entirely automatic and that When the pressures in the front end of the brake-cylinder have passed beyond What I herein term normal pressures and have become What I herein term excess or excessive pressures, then and at that instant the entire relieving apparatus automatically comes into quick and intermittent action. It Will be seen, furthermore, that I have devised and provide a braking apparatus Which during its action is adapted to apply normal brake-shoe pressures and to intermittently apply excessive brake-shoe pressures, and that I am enabled to maintain upon and through the same brake-shoe normal pressures upon the Wheel, and at the same time and Without in any Way interfering With said normal pressures apply through the same shoe on the same Wheel intermittent additional or excess pressures. I am thus enabled to take advantage of such normal pressures and at the same time utilize additional or excess pressures through this automatic and intermittent apparatus, whereby such excess pressures can be applied and taken off without danger of the skidding of the Wheel and its consequent fiatting and also Without in any Way impairing or in any manner interfering with normal brake-shoe pressures.

Having thus described my invention, the following is What I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In an air-brake system means for the application of continuous normal pressures and intermittent excessive pressures.

2. In an air-brake system means for applying a continuous and normal pressure and means for automatically applying and relieving excessive pressures.

3. In a fluid-brake means for applying a constant and predetermined pressure upon the brake-shoe, means for determining the amount of said predetermined pressure, and means for providing a pressure in excess of said amount and which when employed is applied With an automatic intermittent action.

4. In a fluid-brake the combination of means for applying normal or predetermined brakeshoe pressures, means for applying excess pressures and means for automatically relieving said excess pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In afluid-brake the combination of means for applying normal or predetermined brakeshoe pressures, means for intermittently applying excess and relieving pressures and means for adjusting the point of entrance of the relieving pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

6. In a fluid-brake the combination of means for applying normal or predetermined brakeshoe pressures, means for applying excess pressures, means for applying relieving pressures and means for automatically maintaining normal and predetermined pressures and the intermittent excess pressures at the same time, as and for the purposes set forth.

7. In a fluid-brake the combination of means for applying normal or predetermined brakeshoe pressures and means for applying intermittent excess pressures at the same time, With means for intermittently.relieving said excess pressures, and means for adjusting the point of entrance of said intermittent relieving pressure, as and for the purposes set forth.

8. In an air-brake having an air-brake cylinder, the combination of means for applying normal or intermittent and excessive brakeshoe pressures, means for applying intermittent counter-pressu res, and means for exhausting said counter-pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

9. In an air-brake, the combination of a brake-cylinder arranged to receive and transmit normal and excessive brake-shoe pressures upon one side of the piston or diaphragm, means for applying relieving pressures upon the opposite side of the piston or diaphragm and means for intermittently exhausting said relieving pressures and reapplying the excess pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

10. In an air-brake, the combination of a brake-cylinder adapted to receive and transmit normal and excessive brake-shoe pressures at one end and counter or relieving pressures at its other end, and means, during the continuance of the excess pressure of maintaining an intermittent counter-pressure in said cylinder, and means for exhausting the counter-pressure, as set forth.

11. In an air-brake the combination of a brake-cylinder adapted to receive and transmit normal and excessive brake-shoe pressures at one end, and relieving pressures at its other end, means for conveying said air-pressures and means for intermittently exhausting the relieving pressure independent of the other pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

. 12. In an air-brake the combination of the brake-cylinder and a source of air-pressure supply, connections from said source of supply to both ends of said cylinder, means upon the forward connection for introducingnormal and excessive pressures and means upon the rear connection for introducing and exhausting by an intermittent action a relieving or countervailing pressure, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

13. In an air-brake the combination of the brake-cylinder and a source of air-pressure supply, connections from said source of supply to opposite sides of the piston or diaphragm, means for introducing normal and excessive pressures upon one side of said piston and relieving pressures upon the other side With an oscillator and exhaust for effecting an intermittent action in said relief, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

14. In an air-brake the combination of a brake-cylinder, a source of air-pressure supply, connections from the said source of supply to both the forward end and the rear end of the said cylinder, a relief-valve in the rear end connection, and means in said connection between the relieving-valve and the rear end of the cylinder for providing an intermittent action to the relieving pressures, as and for the purposes set forth.

15. In an air-brake the combination of a brake-cylinder, a source of air-pressure supply, connections from the said source of supply to both the forward end and the rear end of the said cylinder, a relief-valve in the rear end connection, and means in said connection 15 between the relieving-valve and the rear end of the cylinder for providing an intermittent action to the relieving pressures, said means consisting of a reducing-valve, an oscillator, a cut-ofl valve, and an exhaust, all arranged 20 substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

R. DULANY l/VHITING.

Witnesses HERBERT KNIGH'J, K. ELLIS. 

